Although plastics are versatile, lightweight and economically viable material with invaluable industrial applications, they are unable to transfer heat efficiently. In response to plastic’s such weakness, Material Science and Engineering Professors Kevin Pipe and Jinsang Kim from the University of Michigan have amalgamated short strands of polyacryloyl piperidine (PAP) with polymer chains of polyacrylic acid (PAA) to engineer new polymer chains that conduct heat 10 times better than most other plastics. According to Professor Kim, “Ten times better is still a lot lower heat conductivity than metals, but we've opened the door to continue improving." The research group’s new plastic may promise more powerful and efficient computers, smartphones, cars, airplanes, and other technological breakthroughs in the near future.